The Great War
by rituel
Summary: It has been called the biggest war in the history of Remnant, but what actually happened in the Great War, over 80 years ago? Follow a new team of Huntsmen and Huntresses and unlock the history of Remnant! Almost all characters will be OCs. Love or hate it please leave a review! Second Prologue up!
1. Prologue 1: Verde

**RWBY: The Great War**

**Prologue 1: Verde**

High noon, and the sun shone brilliantly – some might say punishingly – upon the forests of Vytal. It had indeed been particularly warm this past week, and this day seemed especially so. Even life in the forest seemed to come to a standstill; only a few predators seemed out on the hunt today, and their prey seemed perfectly content to stay in their dens. The various birdsongs could be heard echoing through the forest, carried by the high winds these parts were famous for.

A tiger sniffed hopefully at the air, seeking out the scent of prey. It had been a few days since her last kill – a deer which had had a curious wound on its hind leg which made it easy to chase down – and soon she would need another. There was no deer-scent in this gust of wind, but there was something else. Blood.

The tiger followed the scent trail. She had hunted here often and knew that direction would take her near a south-flowing stream. She sensed she was getting nearer, and slowed her pace. The smell of blood meant that whatever she was tracking may be wounded, but that also meant whatever caused that wound could be lurking about. A skirmish with another predator would be bad; she had been getting fewer kills as of late, as if the animals she hunted had fled the forest itself.

She reached the edge of the treeline and stopped, still hidden in the shadows. The stream meant that there were plenty of trees and bushes for cover. There was indeed something wounded by the stream. It was unmoving, either resting or dying from its wounds. The tiger bent low and began circling towards it, still hidden by the forest.

* * *

><p>"Shit, what now?" said the cloaked figure by the riverbank. She had been running through the woods all of last night and had just come to rest here before daybreak. After tending to her wounds (most of them, anyway) she couldn't hold back her exhaustion and fell asleep. Her mistake, as she now realized, was not making sure how safe she was from the forest inhabitants.<p>

"That's what I get, then. Lesson learned, right?" She reached behind her for her blades, reliable companions that have never failed her. "Not yet, at least." She could feel that whatever was stalking her was taking its time getting closer. If she made any sudden movement, she might spur whatever beast it was to chase her. Any other day, she knew she could outrun the beast, but the state she was in now…

Fighting the beast wasn't something she was too fond of either, but if it came to that… well, she'd think about that when she had to. For now, though, she got to her feet, her wounds preventing her from moving as freely.

She had hung her bag in one of the branches above her (_at least I remembered _that _much_), but luckily what she needed was in a pouch tied to her belt.

"I need to time this just right." She muttered under her breath. She reached in the pouch with her gloved hand and pulled out a handful of fine, brownish powder. She then willed the curved blades to their places on her glove. The blades glowed for a moment, absorbing the Dust in her hand until it was gone. She repeated this with her other hand.

Just then, the tiger jumped out of the trees. She had just enough time to shout a curse and dodge to her side. The tiger was already circling around to her. She threw one of her knives, but the sting in her shoulder caused her to miss her mark. As the tiger pounced she cast her Aura and instead of having a tiger's paw in her stomach she was knocked back instead. The tiger seemed surprised that its claws didn't tear meat from bone and took a few seconds to regain its momentum.

Those seconds were all she needed. Wincing at the pain in one shoulder, she swiped both arms down. The blades flew from her gloves and moved in arcs toward the tiger. The tiger, responding to her sudden motion, veered left as one of the blades cut its ear and another its foreleg. Some of the other blades then curved and changed course, following the tiger. Within an instant the blades caught up with the tiger and embedded themselves in the ground in front of it. The moment they struck, the ground exploded, sending dust and pebbles flying everywhere. Startled, the tiger fled back into the forest, with less energy than it had started with and no kills to show for it.

As the dust cleared, the girl straightened up and summoned her blades back to her.

"Sorry about that," she said, "but cats really shouldn't fight each other." She pulled back her hair to reveal bright green hair, and equally green cat ears which ended in black tips.


	2. Prologue 2: Eve

**RWBY: The Great War**

**Prologue 2: Eve**

Nighttime, and the moon was hidden behind a sea of clouds, but every now and again the nocturnal winds shifted the clouds, and silver-blue rays shone upon the forest. Atop one of the taller trees stood a young girl, her long hair and traveling cape dancing about in the wind. As the clouds above continued their journey, moonlight once again spilled through, this time very near to where she stood. She receded further into the shadows. Far in the distance, thunderclouds growled and flashed their displeasure at the earth below. The winds, however, were carrying these clouds away from her, not towards. She looked up and saw that the sea of clouds above her had thinned, leaving the forest in a more or less even blanket of that silver-blue glow. Tonight, it seemed, visibility would be good for her. And for her enemies.

"Not that it matters, though." Eve said under her breath.

Having found her bearings, she tightened the clasp on her dark blue traveling cloak before jumping down into the forest below her. She moved with practiced ease from tree to tree, covering more distance in shorter time than she would have made running on the forest floor.

Within minutes the girl was less than a hundred meters from her destination: a small dirt road which cut in an almost straight line through the thick forest. She slowed her pace. Now she took a rather roundabout path towards the road. She chose only the thickest branches of the nearest trees; those that would buckle less under her weight and make less noise. Though she was still some ways from the path, a trained eye might be able to spot her first, and trained eyes were exactly what she was up against tonight.

Eve pulled out a small pocket watch from underneath her cloak and saw that she was just a little more than ten minutes late. The forest around her darkened for a moment as a cloud blocked the moon once again. Eve leapt down and carefully studied the dirt path. After a while, she determined that her targets had not yet made it through here.

"Or maybe they aren't coming at all," she whispered to the trees around her. The sentence had barely escaped her lips when she noticed a flash of light further along the path, above the hill to her left.

Darkness fell upon the path around her for a brief moment as she leapt back into the shadows of the forest. On the apex of the hill, one of the guards stopped and drew twin blades from their sheath. Almost immediately her squad mates took position around the horse-drawn cart they were guarding.

"What is it, Captain?" said the tall one wearing a helmet, guarding the left flank.

"There. Down the path." Said the guard in the front. She was a young woman, possibly in her thirties, with her hair shaved down the sides. By the moonlight one could see the scars that ran along one side of her head, a pair of parallel ones over her left eye and cheek, and one that started under the right side of her chin, which continued down her neck before disappearing underneath her armor.

"I see nothing," said a deep voice to her right. This one had pulled out a pair of binoculars and was scanning where the captain had pointed her sword. There was a rustle from the cart and a soldier emerged from the covers.

"Enemies, Captain?" this one asked. He wore only light armor which, like his hooded tunic, was deep blue, almost black.

"We don't know yet." Said the Tall one. "Now get back inside."

"_You_ get in there." challenged the Hooded one, dismounting the cart. "See how _you_ like being stuck in that thing and get thrown about at every cursed bump and hole and whatever else they've got on this poor excuse of a road."

"Now listen, you—…" Tall Guy began, but got no further as the Captain shushed them.

"Keep it down." She said, still looking down the path, "It may have been nothing, but if it's the enemy, they know we're here now, thanks to you."

A pause, then: "What's our next move?" Binoculars asked.

"Weapons out. You too, Cliff. No point in hiding now."

"Sorry, Captain."

Ignoring this, the Captain only said, "Cover the rear." Then, to the soldier posing as the cart driver: "Rosa, keep an eye out."

* * *

><p>Eve watched this exchange in silence from her hiding place in the trees. Now that at least one of them was aware (or almost aware) of her, she couldn't risk approaching them where they stood.<p>

They had stopped for just a few minutes, but it was long enough for Eve to wonder whether they were arguing about turning back. She had heard one of them raise his voice, so they were certainly arguing about _something_, but she was too far down the path to make out any words. Fortunately, though, they continued down their path. Unfortunately, they all had their weapons drawn.

* * *

><p>It took a couple of minutes for the squad to reach the bottom of the hill; now that they were on guard they had slowed up to better detect traps and ambushes. They were nearing the place where Captain had seen the darkness… shimmer. Captain strained her senses, seeking out any signs of attack. Then, her world turned black.<p>

At first she thought she had been knocked out, but the next instant she heard the surprised and confused voices of her team behind her.

"Captain!" the one called Rosa cried out. She heard Rosa draw her weapon, then two loud clangs as metal struck metal. Rosa grunted and then was silent. Two gusts of wind rushed past her and she knew the horses had been set free. Someone had struck the restraints.

As she heard the horses run off, away from the battle, Captain gripped her single-edge swords tightly and secondary blades appeared at their tips, giving them an appearance more similar to scythes. She heard her team fighting against their unknown attacker, each strike of their weapon sending a dull ring through the darkness.

Captain ran back to where she thought the cart was, and had just enough time to dodge something circular from her left.

"Not bad," she heard her attacker say. Captain swung her hook-swords towards the direction of her assailant, but sliced only the air.

She saw the faint outline of one of her men on the ground and realized that she could see, but just barely two feet around her.

"Captain, 2 o'clock!" Cliff cried out, and Captain heard his pistols fire off. She managed to block one strike, but the other hit her shoulder. Thanks to Cliff, though, her opponent couldn't follow through properly, so the cut wasn't deep.

"Damn Faunus." Captain heard her attacker curse. This time she was certain, the voice was definitely female, though it sounded muffled; probably a mask.

"Run towards five o'clock, Captain, she's escaping!"

Captain ran, and a few steps later she was out of the darkness. She staggered at the sudden change in light. The next moment, though Cliff was at her side and steadied her. She looked around and saw blackness hanging over the area where her troops had been and understood what had happened: whoever had attacked them was a trained Huntress, and her Semblance was Shroud.

She wondered how Cliff could see through such a thick layer of Shroud, but when she opened her mouth, instead she asked, "Which way?"

Cliff pointed, then they both leapt into the forest in pursuit.

* * *

><p>Eve rushed through the trees, her breath slightly strained. There had been not one, but two Faunus in the squad, and while she had managed to incapacitate one, the other had jumped out of her range. Above that, he had managed to assist their Captain, and she was sure they were behind her now.<p>

The prize she took encumbered Eve slightly and her pursuers would soon catch up. Her team would come to grab the rest of the supplies later, but Eve didn't know whether she could stall her pursuers that long.

Just then, a bullet whizzed past her from behind. A second one grazed her left shoulder. Warning shots.

The second shot only scratched her armor, but the surprised almost caused her to miss her step.

"Stop! Drop the bag, and we'll let you walk!" Captain shouted.

"And if I don't want to?" Eve cried back.

A shot rang through the air. A bullet grazed Eve in the cheek, punching a hole through the tree in front of her. She kicked the trunk of the next tree in her path and made a sharp turn.

"Take her down!" Eve heard the Captain order. She threw back two small crystals, which made small explosions moments later.

The Captain and Cliff noticed the crystals, though, and jumped out of the way.

"You can't get us with those tiny crackers!" Cliff called out.

"I wasn't trying," Eve muttered under her breath. She scattered pockets of Shroud behind her, causing Cliff and the Captain to jump in and out of darkness.

Some of these pockets caused the Captain to misstep a few times, but failed in stopping her. She was forced to weave her way around the pockets, sending her further and further behind. Cliff, on the other hand, managed to jump straight through most of these pockets thanks to his enhanced vision.

Realizing his captain was falling behind, Cliff turned to help her.

"No!" the Captain shouted. "Stay on the girl! I'll…" but exactly what the Captain would do was never known as Eve appeared from her right. She swung the bag of military equipment she had stolen and the Captain, caught off guard, took the full force of the hit and slammed into a tree, then fell to the ground.

"Captain!" Cliff dashed back to where the Captain lay unconscious. With horror he saw that the Captain's face was covered in blood. He looked up to search for their target but found instead that his surroundings had dimmed again.

Eve had cast another Shroud on him. Though he wasn't as affected by it as humans were, it still limited his field of vision to about 4 meters.

"Stop chasing me, or your Captain will die." Eve's voice echoed in the Shroud. "She won't live long, not after losing that much blood."

Without waiting to see his response, Eve left them there. If he wanted to chase her, he would've done that from the start, instead of jumping to his Captain's aid.

* * *

><p>A moment later, the Shroud vanished. The captain stirred a few minutes after.<p>

"Captain!"

"The girl?" Captain asked, still feeling dizzy. The girl really hit her good. The moon was shining upon them now and she noticed a cloth with red stains in Cliff's hand.

"You're wounded?" the Captain tried to sit up, but her vision blurred and spun so she lied back down.

"No, it's fake." Cliff replied, and the Captain noticed more than a little resentment in his voice.

"Fake?"

"She must've used it on you before she hit you. I didn't realize until after I cleaned you up. By then, she was already long gone. I failed you."

"And you can't pick up her scent?" the Captain asked.

"That…darkness…which she used on us. It seems it doesn't just blind people, but dulls their other senses as well." Cliff replied. "I lost her." He ended.

Sitting up, and this time hardly feeling dizzy at all, the Captain said, "_We_ lost her. We're a team, don't forget it. Now let's go back and check on the others and recount our supplies. You saw her bag, she couldn't have taken everything in that thing."


End file.
